Phoenix Ascendant
by DancingKirby
Summary: 50 sentences about the long and interesting life shared by Crow and Aki.


A/N: Sorry if the title's a bit pretentious; I was having problems thinking of one. But I decided on this because it's sort of a pun on the name "Firebirdshipping". This continues my trend of having all the titles of my CrowxAki stories start with the letter "P." Yay!

Also, I profusely apologize for the lack of interesting sexy stuff. This probably could have been K-plus if it weren't for Sentence 18!

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**#01-Walking: **"Okay," thought Crow as he repeatedly paced the length of the basement, "Now what would be the best way to tell Aki how I feel?"

**#02-Waltz: **At twenty, Crow had had an unexpected last-minute growth spurt of five centimeters so his height was equal with Aki's; he would never be tall, but at least they could now slow-dance and look slightly less absurd.

**#03-Wishes: **The first time Aki really, truly noticed Crow was at the Tanabata festival a couple of months after they defeated the Dark Signers; Aki teasingly asked what Crow had wished for, and the latter stammered a bit, looked down at the ground, and grew uncharacteristically quiet.

**#04-Wonder: **Although she loved Crow with all her heart, at times Aki couldn't help but wonder what her life would have been like had she chosen Yusei instead.

**#05-Worry: **Aki was relieved when Crow decided to be a pro duelist instead of a cop; she would have constantly worried that something would happen to him while she was halfway across the globe.

**#06-Whimsy: **When out shopping with Aki, Crow was always amazed at all the things people could do just for fun and at a moment's notice in this city; in Satellite, everything had to be planned out well in advance and luxuries were virtually nonexistent.

**#07-Waste: **Even after years of living comfortably in Neo Domino, Crow retained his thriftiness, and no resource was ever wasted in his household.

**#08-Whiskey and Rum: **Crow never drank hard liquor; he said that he'd seen enough of what that could do to people in his childhood.

**#09-War: **Crow had to force himself to sternly mete out punishment, but deep down he thought that the "war" the kids had been having with Aki's previously neatly-raked leaf piles looked like a lot of fun.

**#10-Weddings: **Crow and Aki would just as rather have chosen the lower-fuss option of getting married in front of a judge, but Aki's mother was dead-set on her only daughter having a lavish Western-style wedding, and her word was law.

**#11-Birthdays: **"I, uh, made you a cake, Aki, but the kids decided they had to taste it first."

**#12-Blessing: **Crow and Aki had been together for over a decade, but Crow only felt fully secure once he received Mr. Izayoi's blessing to marry his daughter.

**#13-Bias: **After a very awkwardly polite evening meeting Aki's parents, Crow was sure they had hated him from the start, and couldn't help but to feel relief when Mrs. Izayoi finally blurted out, "Don't those markers _hurt_?"

**#14-Burning: **In retrospect, it was fortunate that the King of the Underworld made his appearance when he did, because otherwise Crow would have had to explain why his face was turning as hot as a bonfire when he finally met Izayoi Aki.

**#15-Breathing: **In the last moments before she had to testify for the prosecution at Divine's trial, Aki had a horrible panic attack, and Crow patiently held her hand and reminded her to breathe so she could at least recover enough to be coherent.

**#16-Breaking:** On rare occasions, when things were going _really_ badly, Aki had to expend her anger by throwing around cutlery with her powers; Crow knew well that his role was to quietly sweep up whatever had broken afterwards and to never mention the incident again.

**#17-Belief: **Neither of the two considered themselves to be religious, but they both liked to get away to a shrine occasionally and just sit and meditate.

**#18-Balloon: **If there was anyone on their street who didn't already know about Crow and Aki's relationship, this changed when Ginga, Daichi and Taiga stole some of Crow's condoms and used them as makeshift water balloons.

**#19-Balcony: **Crow had planned a perfect romantic night complete with dinner at a restaurant with elegant balcony seating, but when they got there he found he had forgotten to make a reservation; undeterred, he said, "Aw, what the hell," and dropped to one knee right there on the sidewalk.

**#20-Bane: **When Aki was studying in Germany, the bane of her existence wasn't practical exams or long essays, but long-distance calls to Japan getting disconnected.

**#21-Quiet: **Of all of Crow's passel of kids, Aki felt closest to Taiga; he was quiet and surly, so she got the feeling that he was a bit of a misfit like herself.

**#22-Quirks: **No matter how much Aki scolded, begged, left reminder notes, and bribed, for the life of her she could never, ever get Crow to remember to put the toilet seat down!

**#23-Question: **"Crow…did you dye your hair bright green on purpose…?"

**#24-Quarrel: **Their early years together were filled with quarreling, but they would always reconcile, since they were miserable without each other.

**#25-Quitting: **Like almost everyone in Satellite, Crow had picked up a smoking habit; he was finally able to quit when Aki showed him pictures of diseased lungs in her medical textbooks.

**#26-Jump: **Once, Aki had walked into the basement while Crow and Yusei were working, and decided to seek behind Crow and give him a hug; she was distressed when this resulted in Crow giving a terrified cry and nearly jumping out of his skin.

**#27-Jester: **Many of the children they sheltered were scared of Crow at first, but he would determinedly tell jokes that were progressively sillier until he got them to crack a smile.

**#28-Jousting: **Sometimes Aki wondered if she and Crow had known each other in a past life; perhaps he had been a knight-errant who had gained fame from jousting tournaments, and she had been a noble lady whose love he had won.

**#29-Jewel: **Aki thought that a hand-picked bouquet of flowers and one of Crow's dorky grins were as good a present as any valuable jewel.

**#30-Just: **When Crow saw how anxious this stupid trial was making Aki, he thought that this form of justice wasn't always as just as it claimed.

**#31-Smirk: **Sure, some people might smirk over a wife who worked and a husband who gave up his own career to stay home and look after a huge mixed family, but neither Crow nor Aki would have it any other way.

**#32-Sorrow: **Every year, even when they were old, Aki would go to the cemetery with Crow on the anniversary of his friend Pearson's death, then stand a respectful distance away when Crow needed to be alone…it was the least she could do.

**#33-Stupidity: **Aki had forgotten the quadratic formula during a test, and was lamenting her stupidity to Crow, but he simply said, "Hey, I still count on my fingers, so you're way ahead of me no matter how many equations you forget."

**#34-Serenade:** One time, after they'd had a fight, Crow tried to win Aki back by loudly singing under her bedroom window; the wallpaper peeled, the windows cracked, and her parents almost called Security, but at least Aki appreciated his efforts.

**#35-Sarcasm: **Once Crow had mentioned that he didn't have a middle name, and Aki had jokingly suggested that his middle name should be "Sarcasm," only to be taken aback a few days later when she saw him sign his name as "Crow S. Hogan."

**#36-Sordid: **Whenever Crow and Aki kissed around his kids, they found the pretend retching and chorus of "Eeeeewwwww!" so amusing that they started doing it on purpose just to scandalize them further.

**#37-Soliloquy: **While casually looking through Aki's Honors English vocabulary flash cards, Crow muttered, "Soliloquy…isn't that the thing they store grain in?"

**#38-Sojourn: **For months, Crow and Aki had been anticipating this romantic vacation away from their two biological and several foster and adopted children, only to spend most of their coveted alone time discussing said children.

**#39-Share: **For Crow, there seemed to be no such thing as sharing too much information, but Aki decided to just be glad that he didn't have any problems with conversing.

**#40-Solitary: **Even in this age of technology and instant communication, Aki felt quite alone those first few weeks in Germany.

**#41-Nowhere: **That place where they had dueled Sherry was like nowhere they had ever seen before, and they never wanted to see it again.

**#42-Neutral: **"It ain't fair!" Crow exclaimed as he was losing badly to Yusei, Jack and Aki, "You all can make poker faces and I can't!"

**#43-Nuance: **Aki found out that Crow did not have a big appreciation for the nuances of abstract art when he loudly said of her parents' newly-purchased painting, "It's just a friggin green rectangle on a black background…what's so special about _that?_"

**#44-Near: **Crow tried to make himself available to talk at all times when Aki was abroad, even if it was in the middle of the night; he knew it helped Aki by making it seem like he was always near her in spirit.

**#45-Natural: **Even before she fell in love with him, Aki always liked how natural Crow was; he never put on airs or attempted to act greater than he was, quite unlike certain other people she had known.

**#46-Horizon: **Crow had thought that the expanse of water between Satellite and Neo Domino had been huge, but the first time he saw a _real_ beach, he just stood and gaped at the vast horizon while Aki smiled in amusement at his astonishment.

**#47-Valiant: **Aki considered herself to be a strong and independent woman, but still appreciated it when Crow valiantly came to her rescue and squished a particularly disgusting bug.

**#48-Virtuous: **Everyone was constantly asking them when they would marry and start a family, but they felt that patience was a virtue and wanted to be completely sure that they were ready.

**#49-Victory: **No Riding Duel victory could compare to the emotions Aki and Crow felt as they were awarded their Service to the Community plaque for the dozens of children they had fostered over the decades.

**#50-Defeat: **They were always there for each other, even when they felt utterly defeated and like life would never go on.


End file.
